This is Helen resting on "Leopard Rock" overlooking the Oribi Gorge. There is a great cafe there and lots of birds in the gardens; we saw a pin-tailed Wydah and some Weavers nesting.
Weavers at their nest at Leopard Rock.
After Coffee Bay we reached East London in the rain and decided to stay dry in a BP in the town. Very quiet and a little dismal with unfriendly staff giving us the impression the place had seen better days. So with the tent dried in our room, we moved off to Jeffrey's Bay, or J-Bay as it is known. We originally sought camping as the weather had improved but got offered a BP "Misty Cove" (13 th November) and double room with en-suite for the same price (40R ppn) so stayed for a couple of days. This is South Africa's big surf beach and although it was the quiet season, the place was full of surf shops etc. The beach was long and windy, but only a few surfers around. We did catchup on the cinema with a personal showing of "My ex-girlfriend" and shopping put into their fridge!! We found a great restaurent "The Wallklipper" further south along the beach from J-Bay, lots of seafood options so Helen was in her element of course.

We then travelled down to the coast around Shephed and a day in "The Eland Game Reserve" in Orbi Gorge. This was fun with the car on a gravel track that had been washed-out in places and under repair; we saw more animals, walked a suspension bridge and generally enjoyed the scenery. On the route back to the "Beach" BP, we stopped at Leopard's Rock to take some photos of us sitting overhanging the gorge and watched the weaver birds building nests.
Onwards through the Transkei to the "Wild Coast". At first we were going to give this a miss, but saw that the road was fine and the area completely different from elsewhere in the SA we seen so far. Lots of villagers along the long windy road and shortage of unleaded petrol in the service stations. It felt as if we were back in Rundu in the small towns on route and in complete contrast to Nelspruit and the small towns around there. It was a puzzle what the people did for a living as there was a lack of agriculture (maybe the time of year), although some of the soils looked good. Maybe a lot on pensions, but little sign of any activity really. We reached Port St Johns and camped overlooking the sea. Did a short walk to a blow-hole, climbing down with the aid of a wire rope, but got some good shots. After that, we decided to go onto "Coffee Bay" for a couple of days as this had been recommended by a group of South Africans that we had met at the BP at Port St John. The BP at Coffee Bay was very nice and also busy. Unfortunately we got our tent burnt with a spark on the first night and so moved to another camp site on the other side of the river for the second night when it rained, luckily I had a repair for the tent that sealed it OK. Did a walk along the coast to "Hole-in-the -Wall" with a local guide. It was fine when we set off, but it soon became wet and windy. The guide didn't seem bothered but we got soaked. It cleared up by the end of the walk for our picnic on the beach. However, with thunder clouds around we made for the gravel road in the hope of getting a hike back. That worked out OK in the end but a little uncertain about the quality of the kombies brakes on the hills.

Hello, we're now back in England with the rain and winds. We've had lots of adventures on route and no time to update the BLOG so you can guess it has been fun.
We did go to Mozambique, hiring a car in Nelspruit and driving straight to Maputo, the capital. Quite a shock as we had to dry through the city centre to reach the only road north going up the coast. The city appeared run-down with poor roads, traffic congestion and many traffic lights not working. We did try a road in the northerly direction along the coast but this petered out to a sand track, so a Nissan Almeria was not the ideal car for this. Then headed north to Tofu on the tarred coastal road and this was a long journey on some pot-holed roads and also temporary roads of sand and gravel. It took most of the day and the backpackers we had chosen was inaccessible without 4-WD so ended up at Fatima's Nest next to Tofu beach. Yes, the beach was magnificent, very quiet and blue sea and white sand for miles. We then found out the road further north was also a pain to drive and averaging 20 km/h so we decided to stay put and then return to S.A. To enjoy Mozambique you really need 4 WD as the tar roads north of Maputo are limited (coastal road) and so it is necessary to travel to and fro on the same road. The border crossings, even with the car were really easy and didn't take long as we had a visa already.
By 5 November, we were back in Nelspruit at the "Funky Monkey" BP that had been recommended by Bex. By coincidence a group of new Peace Corp volunteers were meeting there and partying so it was fun to hear of their experiences in Education in S.A. A lot sounded familiar and not so different from Namibia.
On the road again and this time actually travelling south towards our eventual destination of Cape Town. We had a great drive through the interior to the Drakensburg Mountains with the idea of camping and doing some gentle walking in the mountains. On route it had changed from sunshine to a cold dreary day so we were a little apprehensive about camping. However, we got ourselves some braii wood and made camp in the KZN Wildlife camp at Monk's Cowl. The next day it started cloudy but soon cleared to a brilliant day and ideal for walking. We went to Sterkspruit Falls and then on the Hlatikhulu Forest walk that took the rest of the day. We'll remember this as we passed some many different plants, many flowering and a variety of birds that were new to us including a black head oriole, red collared widow and double collared sunbird feeding on the nectar. I would have liked to stay longer and explore the area but again time was limited and so much to see. (to be continued).

Hello from Nelspruit in South Africa (SA). Blyde Canyon was good but we had a few wet days; we found the north part of the canyon the most stunning as you can see from the image.
We're getting ready to go to Mozambique tomorrow. We've had great times in SA and also travelling through Swaziland. In Durban, and particularly Anstey's beach on the Bluff to the south, we found ourselves amongst the surfers and had a great 4 days rest by the sea; it could have been Bournemouth in the summer with similar weather and scenery. Went to "town" by bus shopping and also walked by the sea in sight of whales and dolphins.
We left Durban and headed north along the coast to St Lucia and the wetlands reserve. All by ourselves in the "Blue House" campsite. We did a trip up along the coast through the reserve and also a boat trip to see the whales and dolphins. The first day was cancelled by the bad weather, i.e. high winds by the sea, but the next morning we got out and saw Humpback whales and dolphins. At first a lone calf whale and then it later rejoined it's mother and we also saw a large pod of dolphins, all very close to the boat. Needless to say we got wet as the sea turned rough. The beach landing was also interesting !!
From there we went to Swaziland, the borders were straight forward and even managed to get a visa for Mozambique in a morning. We camped in the mountains and had a night of wind and rain with mist in the morning. Again we were the only people in the hostel but it was a brilliant position overlooking the valley. From there we went north to Sabie and Graskop to visit Blyde Canyon. It started wet but cleared and we had a great drive along the escarpment and up to the three roundels in the north. We ended up the day at Hazyview camping in a forest. This was a great site and able to have our first braii of the trip. We then visited Kruger Park cos it was only 10 km away and it seemed a pity to miss the chance. However, it was in the high 30s and humid so it really got to us. We did see lions, kudu, impala, hippo, waterbuck and bush buck amongst others, but not in great numbers that we've gotten use to ..spoilt by Namibian and Zambian reserves I guess. So now we are almost ready for Mozambique and the Indian Ocean before we return to SA and Drakensburg.
To our overlander friends, hope you've enjoyed Namibia and got that adrenaline rushing again with sky dives and dune maddness. and you're still looking forward to a little luxury such as blueberry muffins and good coffee in Cape Town,...so for now adios

We're now in Livingstone, our second visit here but the Falls on the Zambian side are a trickle compared with the rainy season. We have travelled across Tanzania into Malawi and then west into Zambia. In Tanzania before the border we passed through Baobab valley along the Great Ruaha river with lots of the so called "Upside Down Trees" or Baobab trees; so many along the river valley and slopes. We also visited Isimila Stone Age Site because we had a days wait whilst a new trip member caught up with us. We reached the Malawi border on 6 October and then travelled south to Lake Malawi at Chilumba. The next day was onwards south up a steep valley side and then down to "Kandy Beach" on the shores of the lake. This was our home for a couple of days. The top of the escarpment was about 890 m with the lake shore at about 370 m so still above sea level. We commissioned some "T" shirts with a map of Africa on the back with the countries we've visited on including Angola (keep this to yourself) and Rwanda but they missed off Uganda and also used second hand shirts, so I guess we should know better!!
By Monday we were on the road again out of Malawi into Zambia. It was beginning to feel like we knew the area more as we approached Namibia! It was a long-long day as we had to catch up on a missed day, but worth the very rough drive to the Laungwa park. This was a great experience as we were able to walk with a guide in the reserve and see the animals at first hand. There are lions and leopards but we didn't see them whilst walking but did see hippos, buffalo and elephants at close quarters. We slept on a tree platform and saw elephants going through the camp. The highlight of the trip was a night drive when we saw a leopard kill an Impala at close quarters, within 3 metres. There was torrential rain during the drive, their first rain in October for 5 years !!, but it let-up a little for us to see the leapard and also many hippos going for an evening stroll. We also saw a pride of lions crossing the river and dodging the crocodiles (we could see the light reflected in their eyes). Luckily the rain was localised and when we got back to the camp everything was dry (we'd left the flysheet off the tent so it could have been a different story).
From there we drove south to Lake Kariba and 3 nights on a house boat. Didn't see much of the lake but it was luxury to have a proper bed and a boat not a truck to live in.
The campsite here in Livingstone is not as nice as "Fawlty Towers" where we stayed before with Alison and Margaret, but with a name like "Grubby's Grotto", what can you expect. The money is called Kwatcha and is difficult to get use to with 7000 to a pound so I'm almost a millionaire here. We did an activity yesterday, a jet boat trip up and down rapids, the closest we'll get to white-water rafting. We drove downstream of the falls and got a wire lift down to the river. As it is dry season (no real rain here yet) the river was low. Some of our group were doing rafting and we met them on the way down. Of course we all got very wet as the waves on the rapids came over and he kept doing these rapid turns with the aim of wetting everthing. Helen was stood on a sand bank next to the river and literally got swept off her feet as a wave from the boat came ashore and she ended flat on her back covered with water. Anyway, it was hot and we all dried off quickly during the journey back to the campsite.
Now looking forward to independent travel as we are both feeling the effects of the truck and group travel. It will be nice to decide where we want to stop and for how long. In retrospect, it would have been easy to do the trip with the Pajero, it would have taken twice as long because we'd have stopped longer in places but there are no problems finding accomodation or the state of the roads is nothing worse than we met in Nambia. However, the down side is still the cost and also selling the car at the end.
Next is Durban where we plan to hire a car and travel up the coast to St Lucia wetlands. Not sure after that....keep in touch.

Hello from Zanzibar. We're in the north of Zanzibar island having got here after a long, long journey yesterday, so just chilling out today, Dar (the capital of Tanzania) is quite modern and we're back in Dar on Tuesday for a couple of hours so we'll see a bit more. This place is great and reminds me of a more developed Indonesian island. We're at sea level and enjoying a tropical climate. Last week we reached 2300 m at the Ngorogoro crator and it was cold in the evening and mornings. Last week we had a demanding time with early morning starts and quite long drives over terrible roads, particularly in Serengeti, very corrugated but it was worth it. We've seen an amazing number of lions, hyenas, wildebeast on migration and the dead ones in the river that failed the crossing, together with mighty crocs that line the river in anticipation ! We've seen a huge variety of wild life including leopard, more hippos and loads of lions as well as a cheetah; the latter is difficult to see even in the Masai Mara. I won't bore you with a list of birds but I expect you can imagine; I'll just say our Namibian training has put us in good stead here.
We're both fine and ready for the next 2 weeks race through Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia. We have a lot of people leaving the trip after this stage and only 3 joining so we'll have more room in the truck, its called the "flying pig" and we wish it could fly sometimes! particulary up the hills.
We had a great Spice tour when we arrived here and saw all the spices being grown in a mixed woodland, Helen has photos of every spice, believe me. Also saw a Masai village etc with great photos of dancing and their compounds etc. They seem to live a traditional lifestyle in the region we travelled through particularly near the crater itself. We also have some videos on the camera of elephants demolishing trees at close quarters with full sound effects. We had elephants and wild pigs in camp at the Ngorogoro crater camp site. Again we had a 5.30 start in the rain and dark yesterday, so nice to forget the tent for three nights until Tuesday night. Our third trip starts on Wednesday from Dar. We haven't being stopping long enough to do any laundry so we gave it in here but it has returned in poor shape and wet so Helen is trying to sort that out. It is sometimes difficult to get internet access and often frustrating when we do, just like Rundu! Hope you're having an Indian summer in UK. Take care ....next posting is likely to be Durban after our flight from Livingstone. Still seeing Pajeros in Tanzania so I guess they've become an African vehicle after all.

Hello, we are now up in the north west of Rwanda and have been to see the gorillas this morning 12 th and this was great, and it was not a difficult climb at 2500 m. We saw a whole group with a silver back, the oldest and biggest in the region. We got very close, within a couple of feet and one touched my leg as it passed by. Lots of great photos including some of the younger members of the family. This area and all that we've seen of Rwanda is very pretty with lots of hills and streams and cultivation everywhere except the parks. We had guides on the trek and two soldiers to protect us !!. We went up in a group of 8 and spent one hour with the family of gorillas. Words can't describe the area but we'd certainly come back as there are walks in the hills around here and other parks to visit as well. We've even got our certificate to prove we did it !!...sad huh?
We're off back to Nairobi over the next week stopping on route in Kampala and also at Jinja the mouth of the Nile on Lake Victoria for a couple of days. Lots of photos but they will have to follow I'm afraid.

We're now in Nairobi relaxing after our airflights. There was a delay in Windhoek but didn't miss the connection in Jo'burg. The weather is a surprise as it is cooler than Rundu with cloud cover and jumpers at night. I have had a swim in the pool but too cold for long. So far we have been to see the orphan elephants at the 'David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust' at Mbgatha on the outskirts of Nairobi and learned alot about elephants and also one orphan rhino that we saw. This is a great project and has been going for years now. They seem to kow all the tricks for keeping the orphaned elephants alive after their mothers have been lost, poached or whatever. They had just been covered with coconut oil so that they don't get sunburn. Their human mothers stay with then 24 hours a day including sleeping next to the elephants.
Also went to the Karen Blixen museum/house from the film 'Out of Africa' and enjoyed seeing the house and original furniture and gardens although they were prepariing for a very large wedding. Nairobi itself is a bit disappointing, very busy with crazy driving and hassle from people in the centre but did have coffee in the Hilton and saw around a few markets. Took a trip to the snake park and saw my first Puff Adder having missed it in Namibia ! Hope we don't see any of the Mambas in the bush, apparently the Puff Adder is the biggest killer of all the snakes in Kenya. We start our trip on the 6th...so for now..

We're into our last week in Rundu. On 29 th we travel to Windhoek and then fly to Nairobi on the 30 th August and stay there a few days before starting out trip to see the Mountain gorillas in Rwanda. This trip starts from Nairobi on 6 th September and last for 6 weeks in total when we arrive in Livingstone near Victoria Falls. From there we fly to Durban and spend 6 weeks in Mozambique and South Africa and leave from Cape Town on 2 December, so we have lots of travelling. We have now sold our Pajero but have use of it until we leave Rundu so that is very convenient. Now busy packing a few things to send home via the post and trying to get all our things into 2 rucksacks and a day bag each, so that is a challenge. We are taking enough that we can still camp and be self sufficient and hope to do some camping in South Africa. Found a fuel for the stove, Benzine, that seems to be similar to Coleman's White gas at home and works much better than petrol which blocked the jet frequently as we found in Botswanawhen camping. Also have spares from home. Helen's also pleased with her Goose Down sleeping bag that I bought in Windheok and isn't bothered by the cold desert nights anymore.
We'll try and update our Blogspot when we have access to the iternet but can't say when this will be....so bye bye from Namibia and to Namibia for the time being!!

View from a koppie in Spitzkoppie as the sunset but this is looking to the east ! Our campsite is in the distance between the two outcrops. We had climbed to the "Bushmen's Paradise" earlier in the day and found the rock paintings in a hidden valley on top of a kopie. Their are chains to help with the climb up the rock face but it made us puff!! 

14 August 2006 This is the last of the floods in the desert at Soussevlei. The photo was taken from the top of the dune and you can clearly see green areas in the desert landscape.We saw a Gemsbok as we drove in the 4WD track but it didn't stay around. 

15 August 2006. This is Helen on a dune during our visit to the desert. We walked up the dunes at Soussevlei and along the ridge. It was early in the day to aviod the worst of the heat but the scenery was amazing as the rains had brought life to the desert with lots of birds around and grass. There was even water in the vlei although it had dried up in dead vlei. 

This is the HIGSCE class doing the practical exam in April. This was their first practical exam they have done and you can see they are doing some chemistry. They had to identifiy the cation and anion in a solid they were given. Most of them did this well considering this was their first attempt. They will have another chance in August and then I leave Namibia before their final external exam in October. I spend most Monday afternoons doing work with them, usually involving them doing practical work and then they get revision sheets to complete for homework each week. They are all keen and try their best, doing a lot of self-studying to get through the course. These are the only students in Kavango doing HIGCSE Physical Science in the public sector so it will be a shame if the course closes when I leave.

This is Petrus, one of the HIGSCE students doing Physical Science at Rundu Senior Secondary School. He recently received donation glasses so can now see the board without coming to the front of the class. Here he is adjusting the Geiger-Muller tube to take count rates of an alpha source. 

Thursday/Friday 4/5 th May. Spent a day in the reserve with an early morning drive and then back for pancakes on the fire that was still burning from the night before. The baboons gather at a tree opposite our tent and after loud squabbling, they do settle down to a nights sleep without bothering our camp. They are a large troop of something like 30 individuals and last night we watched some younger ones fighting in the tree and suddenly one dropped out to the ground, about 20 m, but seemed unarmed. By dawn we hear them scurrying from their rests and away down to the waters edge for a drink and family gathering before they wander off again for a day searching for food. This morning we didn't see any elephant but lots of impala, white faced ducks, eqyptian ducks, spare wing geese, squacco herons, egrets and our best view yet of a bataleur as it perched on a low branch giving us an excellent view of its red feet and red bill with a yellow tip. We also saw more fish eagles and a marsh eagle near the waters edge. The lower track near the floodplain gives a good view over to Namibia and the occasional Mokoro and village hut but too far away to see animals. However, on this track we saw animals coming from the bush to drink including water buffalo and a lone female bush buck with its distinctive spotted side. Later in the day we saw a family of elephants going to drink and also the two bulls that were sauntering down the track towards us, with it seems little intention of moving off the track. Recalling our previous days experience we decided to turn the vehicle and find another route!. We had our last night camping in the bush with the animals, observing a wonderful sunset with lots of mayflies and birds flying low to capture their feast of insects over the waters edge. A truly magical moment with the noise of animals in the background and the light of the campfire as we cooked our last soya mince!
We left Chobi reserve by the west gate travelling about 23 km on a rough track and not seeing much apart from impala at the start. However, we later came up on a small herd of water buck that were quite close and distinctive with their white moon stripe on their bottoms, see photo. There was a youngster as well and a little drama as a couple of males approached the herd and were seen off by the resident dad. The last few kilometres were deep sand but the 4WD coped without any problems. The exit from Botswana and entry to Namibia by the Ngoma bridge was effortless and we were soon in Katima to get some refreshments before heading to Rundu. So that's our trip to Botswana and we're pleased to say we can thoroughly recommend it with the friendly people who generally have good English, great reserves that still have that wilderness feeling and cheap diesel ! We had been warned about mosquitoes as it is the end of the wet season and of course we were near water quite a lot at many campsites; we used insect repellent at night and didn't encounter more insects than we're used to in Rundu and only got two or three bites on the whole trip, so I guess we were lucky.

Wednesday 3 rd May. We're now in Chobe Reserve at the Ihaha camping area (GPS 926 m S 17.83657, E 24.88216 ) about 33 km from the east gate of the park. We travelled the boring and partly potholed road from Nata to Kazangula (saw several elephants on the way), and stayed in a great campsite at the Toro Lodge on the edge of Kazangula on route to Kasene. We stayed there for two nights as the camping in the park was supposedly fully booked. This gave us time to catch up on some reading and to explore Kasene some more although there is very little to see apart from the riverside lodges and the shops, including a Spar supermarket. The drive through the park was spectacular as the views of the riverside unfolded. We saw our first wild leopard, many Impala and of course elephants. This park is known for its large elephant population and hippos. We also saw many fish eagles perched on the outer branches of the higher trees along the floodplain edge, and a large herd of water buffalos that didn't seem to be too aggressive and allowed us to pass through without a sound. Also saw water buck, crocodiles, two pods of hippo, warthogs, several large monitor lizards near the water, kudu and giraffe. At lunch under the trees on the edge of the floodplain I saw a marsh boubou makes its familiar sound; we've heard this many times in the Kavango but never seen the actual bird making the call. We also saw a few Heuglin's robins around the camp, fish eagle on lookout, hammerkop nesting in a tree not to mention a water buffalo that strolled past. We now have plenty of firewood which is a relief after the problems in finding any wood for sale in Kasane and also a nice tree trunk that we aim to feed into the fire tomorrow for cooking. In the evening we decided to do another drive around the area and encountered two elephants that were feeling frisky to the extent that one charged us so that I had to do a quick detour into the bush to get out of its way. The guinea fowl here are something else, very large flocks that insist on running on the track in front of the car and only moving at the very last second, but then we're usually in second gear at less than 10 km/h ! It certainly makes a change from the hornbills similar tactics in Moremi. The picture is the camp next to the Chobe river plain with the campfire smoldering.

Sunday 30 th April. We had a leisurely drive of about 100 km to Nata crossing a finger of the Ntwetwe pan and found the Bird Sanctuary with great camping sites in Mopane woodland. After setting up camp we drove towards the Sowa pan going first west and then south but soon encountered deep water. After lunch we tried a different route to the south of the camp and found the pan full of water, much like being at the coast on a calm day. We didn�t see flamingos but quite a few white pelican, white faced ducks and two kori bustards near the track. Also a lot of herons and cranes but we were too far away to identify them. We stayed at the edge of the pan near a platform to see the sunset across the water (see photo); the immensity of the pan really strikes home and this was just a small section of the network in this region. We drove back to camp in the dusk, lit the fire and enjoyed a quite evening in the woods without monkeys or baboons; there were some horses around but they�d disappeared by this time.
 

Saturday 29 th April. We returned to Maun and caught up on our washing and got ready for the trip across Botswana to Nata via Gweta. The rest camp is now a lodge (GPS 925 m S 20.968, E 25.25748) and in the middle of the village. We couldn't help noticing the nice looking schools in the town without broken windows !. In the afternoon we decide to go and try and find Green's Baobab tree travelling south towards the Makgadikgadi pan. The track was OK to start with but soon diverged into several tracks and I was left with the GPS to try and get to the tree. Eventually we were running out of track and in tall grass when we spotted a group of psalm trees that we had been told about at the camp and on turning in that direction, we spotted the Baobab tree surrounded by a high fence and a notice declaring it a National Monument. These trees were used by the early settlers as post boxes to relay mail out of the bush. The gate was open so I got a good picture, shown below, of the tree with the vultures on the top branches. However, we ran out of time to drive further to the pan or Chapman's Baobab.

Thursday, 27 April. After lighting the "Donkey" to get heated water for a shower (night temperatures dropping below about 14 C), we had breakfast and headed off to the south gate of the park and then up to the north gate. Third bridge is actually broken at the moment and there is a sign warning of the dangers of crocodiles in the water so we had to back track. On route at one of the diversions round a waterlogged track we saw a large group of elephants, shown in the photo, including some young ones but difficult to get a good photo. The track from south to north gate was more or less straight, some deeper sand but not a problem but we didn't see much wildlife until we reached the campsite to be greeted by the blue-balled monkeys. They're as mischievous as the baboons and in spite of our precautions, they did manage to get our last two hot-cross buns from the table.The wooden bridge to the entrance gate was made of logs; it looked pretty ropey and in need of repair and the top was partly under water but all the same was passable.

Wednesday, 26 April. Sorted our reservations for camping in the Moremi reserve and then drove to the park entrance, initially on a good tarred road and then gravel and then the last part on a sand road. We decided to take our time and follow the track to the campsite at the Third bridge. This is about 60 km from the entrance but we could only travel at a maximum of 20 km/h because of the rough track, many small diversions around flooded bits of the track and of course the numerous stops to see wild life including giraffe, Burchell's zebra, warthog, hippo, blue wildebeast, red heartybeast, impala, elephants and numerous birds such as a large flock of hooded vultures flying into a kill (we suspected), saddlebill storks, red eyed franklins, fish eagles and numeroud hornbills on the track(mostly red-billed) that seemed to leave it until the last second to escape the car tyres. On route we rescued a Backie that was bogged down in the mud; they'd been there an hour and had to keep the vehicle running because the exhaust was under the water. After breaking our tow rope again, we did pull them out without a problem and it turned out that if we hadn't come along, they'd have been there all night as we were the only campers at Third bridge (GPS 950 m, S 19.23875, E 23.35659). So relief all round and they kindly gave us a bottle of wine for our trouble. The campsite itself, photo below, was in a magical setting in a grove of trees near a marshy area with hippo nearby. We did have a close encounter with baboons, or least Helen did as they stole a packet of macaroni she was preparing for supper but it was interesting the way the male did it. He was watching Helen and I walked over to drive him away thinking he'd left the area. In fact he'd circumnavigated the camp and came out behind Helen and made a rush between the car and the table grabbing the macaroni on route. I did attempt to retrieve it but by the time I found him he'd split the contents with his girlfriends. It was amusing to hear them crunching dry macaroni! Our next fright was when we'd turned in, we heard a loud noise and after a few moments realised we had an elephant next to the tent grazing on the leaves on a fallen tree. We decided to stay put and hope they'd notice our small tent and leave us in peace, and they did. However we did hear them at different times in the night together with hippo and warthogs, and in the morning we saw elephants near the shower hut. So that was our first encounter with elephants in camp and we're just glad it wasn't hippo.
 

Tuesday, 25 April. Now in Maun at the Maun Rest Camp which is just north of the town and situated near the river. The camp is very nice and we can recommend it for the good facilities and peaceful situation. The town itself is more developed than we had thought and lots of shops, market stalls with a cafe near the airport and internet cafe, and Barclays and Stanbic banks with ATMs. We plan two nights here so that we can catch up on supplies, see the town and perhaps take a flight over the delta. We visited the cultural centre and the Environment Centre but both were dissappointing. In particular the Environment Centre provides paths to walk in the reserve and see animals but we found the tracks poorly marked and the whole place run down as if it had been a vibrant place in the past. There is a lot of scope here to provide information about the area and wildlife in particular. We walked as far as the river but didn't see many animals, perhaps we were just unlucky! Later we decided to take a flight over the delta in a three seater and I got some photos of the water and the many islands. This was a great experience and gave us an impression of the vastness of the delta even though we just saw a fraction of it! Although there is a lot of green from the air, much is in shallow water with the grasses growing through, see the photo. We did spot groups of elephant as we flew as far north as chief's island and west to the Moremi reserve. I estimated from the GPS readings that the average river gradient from Drotsky's cabins to the Moremi reserve at the Third bridge was about 0.23 m/km, so very low indeed.
 

Saturday 21 April. Arrived in north west Botswana at Drotsky's cabins (991 m, S 18.41684, E 21.88968) situated on the banks of the Okavango where we camped for two nights right next to the river. At this point the river is flowing east but takes a turn south a little downstream on its way to the wider delta. We went on the evening cruise on the river and saw many birds including a Goliath Heron, Senegal coucal and the White Fronted Bee eaters shown in the photo. They were nesting in the river bank. At this point in the delta, which isn't far from Namibia, the vegetation is mainly papyrus and reeds with the main river restricted to one channel with the flood plain at the moment over 2 or 3 kilometers wide. There were Hippos about as we heard them in the night, but they're impossible to spot in the dense vegetation. On the cruise we also caught a glimpse of a small Sitatunga (that's what we were told anyway as we'd not seen one before). We decided to stay another day here and relax with free coffees at the bar and watching the river nearing its long journeys end. It was good to get the campfire burning as they run on South African time here so its gets dark an hour earlier than in Rundu and also, after sunset, it was getting cooler.

We also did a walk near the river seeing lots of birds and when we got to the river bank found a flooded area with lots of lilies and a lad with a Mokoro pushing his way through the reeds as shown in the photo. The colour of the trees is striking at this time of year but no Manketti trees here
 

At the weekend we had a VSO type get together at Hakusembe Lodeg 20 km west of Rundu on the Kavango river. This is one of our favourite lodges in the area with a great view of the river, campsite and swimming pool all run by the operations manager JC. No rains at all but Margaret managed to get her beast bogged in the mud so we had some great fun trying to pull her out, and did eventually after getting a third tow rope. This was Margaret�s last adventure in Kavango with us as she leaves for home soon at the end of her service in Namibia. It was a great weekend with a braii, river trip and dinner on the river banks, how better a way to celebrate her going !!
They now have hippos in the area for the first time in years, but alas we didn�t spot them or crocs but did see a Fish Eagles that are breeding downstream of the lodge, also a Senegal Coucal, lots of African Jacanas, Common Waxbills, Yellow fronted Tinker birds and Rufus Bellied Herons, the latter for the first time in Africa. They were breeding and we could see them on their nest high in the reads on a small island just upstream of the lodge.
The sunset was magnificent as you can see from the photo taken on the river trip.  

19/21 March: We went further south to see the "Waterberg Plateau" and met other volunteers. The weather stayed fine for us most of the time and so were able to make two ascents to "Mountain View" (see photo) and make a little detour to see one of the many small canyons. This is a different aspect to the Namibian landscape that we haven't seen before with the colours of the sandstone and the lush green that has come with the heavy rains this year. The woods below the rim of the plateau were dense in places with lots of flowers, butterflies and birds. We saw "Rock Dassie" several times on the "Mountain view route ".On the plateau there are rhinos, leopards and antelope but that will have to wait for another visit if we have time left.

18 & 19 March: Visited the San living village called Grashoek(GPS:19.24574S;19.23945E)) about 90 km east of Roy's camp. We saw the crafts made in the village, saw some traditional games and in the evening the Natural Healer chanted with a group around the fire. We camped under some Maketti trees in the village and had a great evening under the clear sky. In the
morning we went for a walk in the bush and found some tubers nearby (see photo). Henry, our San guide, together with the Healer were able tell us lots about the flora and its uses in healing and general living of his people. We went a short distance through the bush but almost every shrub or tree had a story to tell. We reached a Manketti tree with water between the branches and they showed us how they use their long straws to drink the water. The Manketti trees also provide nuts for eating and they showed us how they cracked the shell. At the moment the nuts are green, about the size of a golf ball. Also near our camp were "Berry Bushes" with green berries that did not taste of much but we were assurred that when they are ripe in the winter and turn brown, they are also sweet. Only the young children were eating the unripe fruit! I hink we saw the same bushes near the "White Lady" paintings in the Brandburg mountains and saw the baboons collecting them.

San people finding a tuber 

Now in Namibia with VSO in Rundu in the Kavango region. We've been here since September 2004 and will leave at the end of August 2006. We both work in Education, Helen as a Special Needs Advisor and me as Maths and Physical Science Advisor based in Rundu, the capital town of the Kavango Region.
Whilst here we have travelled in the Namibia, Botswana and Zambia and have been enjoying lots of camping and BQs. In the north of Namibia, there are lots of good lodges and nature reserves that are within a relatively short distance. So we have seen lots of wildlife including birds, different antelope, and elephants. As the Kavango river is on our doorstep in Rundu, we have also explored the area and seen crocodiles and hippos. The hippos are usually easily seen further along to the east but there are crocodiles everywhere.
There are also several good walks between the lodges, although not marked as such (perhaps this is a "Kavango Way" for the future!)